CHARGERS: Bolts deny report of sale to Anschutz

Team: No truth that stake to be sold to L.A. stadium mogul

SAN DIEGO -- The Chargers denied a radio report that a 35
percent stake of the NFL franchise has been or soon will be sold to
billionaire Phil Anschutz.

The report originated from Bob McCown, a host on FAN 590 AM, a
sports radio station in Toronto. By Tuesday night, the report had
reached profootballtalk.com, a popular website that posts NFL news
and rumors.

It struck fear in the hearts of many San Diegans because
Anschutz owns the Anschutz Entertainment Group, which plans to
build a stadium in downtown Los Angeles in hopes of luring an NFL
team.

Late Tuesday, the Chargers flatly denied that any part of the
team has been sold to Anschutz.

"There is no truth to the rumor out of Toronto that the Chargers
have agreed to sell a portion of the team to Mr. Anschutz,"
Chargers special counsel Mark Fabiani said in an e-mail to
reporters.

The Chargers will sell a minority share of the team, but there
is no timetable to complete the transaction.

The Chargers announced on Nov. 16 that Goldman Sachs had been
hired to sell a portion of Alex Spanos' 36 percent stake in the
team for estate planning purposes. Spanos is 87 and has
dementia.

The team tried to separate the sale from the possibility of the
franchise moving if a new stadium is not built in San Diego.
Fabiani would not rule out the possibility of selling Spanos' stake
to a Los Angeles-based party, and AOL Fanhouse reported that
Goldman Sachs has talked with Anschutz about buying a stake in the
Chargers. But Fabiani emphasized that the Chargers want to stay in
San Diego long-term.

"The sale of a minority stake in the team has nothing to do with
the team's new stadium efforts," Fabiani said on Nov. 16. "The
Spanos family controls the team now, and it will control the team
in the future. So all stadium-related decisions will be made by the
Spanos family, irrespective of whether there is a minority owner or
not."

The Chargers are attractive to the L.A. market because they have
an out clause in their Qualcomm Stadium lease. They can opt out
each year from Feb. 1 and April 30 for a fee that decreases
annually. If the Chargers were to end their lease in the next
buyout window, it would cost the Chargers $26 million.